The indict-a-thon continues in the case against R. Allen Stanford, whose Ponzi scheme bilked investors out of more than $7 billion.
Tom Raffanello, the former chief of the DEA's Miami office, is the second person to be indicted on charges of conspiracy, obstruction and destruction of records in a federal investigation in the case, according to the Miami Herald.
Raffanello left the agency five years ago to be Stanford's local security chief and told the Herald he was prepared to turn himself in after prosecutors said that records were taken out of the company's security bunker after the judge had ordered them no to.
In February, when investigators learned of the scheme and started to move in - shutting down operations and attempting to recover investor money - Raffanello, whose base was in Stanford's Fort Lauderdale security bunker, told an employee to contact a shredding company, according to the indictment.
A shredding truck arrived two days later and a 95-gallon bin was hauled away, the entire operation being supervised by security staff member Bruce Perraud, who has also been indicted.
"No one is sorrier than me that it came to this -- after spending 32 1/2 years working for the government,'' he told the Miami Herald. "But I'm prepared to fight this. I still believe in the system.''
Kendall Coffey, Raffanello's lawyer, said the indictment is a mistake.
"It's not like they have any theory that anybody was trying to conceal anything or even trying to keep their jobs,'' said Raffanello's lawyer, Kendall Coffey. "They were just cleaning out the offices to close down their company."
